If you’ve never had an eye exam, you may be curious about what’s going to happen at your first appointment. Maybe you’ve had several eye exams, but you don’t understand exactly what your optometrist is doing during your appointment. If you just wat to know more about eye exams and what happens, then we’ve created this guide for you.
Eye exams should be considered a routine part of your annual wellness routine. Just like you should get a physical from your doctor to make sure that your health is top-notch, you should also get your eyes checked. Annual eye exams can help detect problems when they are small, and make sure that you are still seeing as clearly as you should. Here are some of the general things that you should expect during your eye exam.
Visual Acuity Tests
Visual acuity tests are some of the first tests that are conducted by your eye doctor. These tests typically consist of a projected chart that is placed some distance away from you. There are letters that get increasingly small by row. Your eye doctor may instruct you to read the smallest row you can. This test measures your ability to see objects far away. There is another visual acuity test that is often performed with a hand-held card. This test is like the previous one, but tests your ability to see closer objects, like when you read a book.
Color Blindness Test
Initial eye doctor appointments, or children are often tested for color blindness. These tests have patients detect patterns in a variety of shapes that are different colors. Patients who have color blindness cannot detect the changes, while patients who do not exhibit color blindness can easily see the differences. If you have a family history of color blindness, it is important to let your eye doctor know so that you can be tested. Many individuals don’t even know that they are color blind before these tests.
Cover Test
This test looks at how well the eyes work together. This is achieved by testing each eye individually. Your doctor will cover one eye and have you look at objects far away with each eye, and then repeat the test for objects that are closer. During this test, your doctor is looking to see if each eye is working well on its own, or if the other eye is compensating to help you see properly.
Testing Eye Movement
Ocular motility testing looks at the ability of the muscles that control your eye to properly move your eyes throughout their range of motion. This test also focuses on your ability to track objects as they move with your eyes, rather than moving your whole head. Issues that are discovered here can show eye doctors that your eyes may be undergoing more strain than should be placed on your eye, and they can take steps to help correct this.
Depth Perception
Stereopsis is your ability to determine the distance of objects. During this test, you will likely wear a pair of 3-dimensional glasses and then be asked to pick which objects appears to be the closest to you.
Retinoscopy
This test involves looking through one of the large instruments in your eye doctors exam room. You generally look at a wall chart as your doctor flips through different lens strengths to try to get an approximation of your prescription needs. These tests are generally meant to get relatively close to your prescription, but can often get it exactly right.
Refraction
After getting an estimate of your prescription, your doctor will perform a similar test and flip back and forth between two lenses, but this time you will be asked which lens is more clear. This will allow you to get the perfect prescription to help you see properly.
Overview
If you haven’t scheduled your eye appointment, call today. Your eye doctor can help get you into the right prescription and keep your eyes happy for years to come.
